Chief Financial Officer, Bureau of Benefits
State of Illinois Department of Central Management Services, Springfield
Colm graduated summa cum laude and was Financial Management Association president while at ISU. He is also a Certified Corporate Trust Specialist (CCTS).
Area of Finance specialization: Business/Organizational Financial Management
Hometown: Riverton, Illinois (born in Dublin, Ireland )
FIL 370 Educational Investment Fund. Participating in EIF was the finance equivalent of the archeology student's summer dig or the art student's sculpture class. It was an opportunity to step away from books and apply classroom theory to a real-world situation. Interacting with investment professionals from around the state, while making proposals on the holdings of a real-money fund, was as personally rewarding as it was educational.
Winning tickets to Tampa, Florida and the NCAA Final Four basketball game in my Marketing 230 class. A corporate sponsor provided the tickets as a prize for the student team that did the best project. See, it really does pay to do your homework! I also enjoyed being president of Financial Management Association.
I am responsible for all areas of financial management: cash management, budgeting, investment management, financial reporting, for all state-administered employee benefit plans, including health insurance, retirement, and workers' compensation. These plans represent more than $3.7 billion in annual expenditures, with nearly $2.5 billion of assets under management. The College of Business's broad mixture of finance, accounting, marketing, economics, statistics, and management helped me develop general business sense, while the depth of core competencies covered in the Finance Major gave me the analytical thinking skills and confidence to perform the technical aspects of my position and excel in my career.
Returning to college at age 28 as a nontraditional student, I had specific goals and expectations, and initially approached my studies as a job. However, during my four semesters there, I realized that it's not just about the academics. The strong Finance program in ISU's friendly campus environment offers more than a diploma; it provides the opportunity to gain leadership experience, build long-lasting friendships, and develop the tools to succeed in your professional life.
